Background: People living with advanced dementia in nursing homes often
spend the majority of time alone, with little contact with anyone. The need to
connect with others is a central part of a philosophy known as Person
Centred Dementia Care. A significant body of literature demonstrates the
effectiveness of a range of approaches that facilitate connections, yet, we
know little about staff perspectives on what facilitates them to connect on a
daily basis.
Aim: To develop a Grounded Theory to explain what facilitates nursing home
staff to connect with residents living with advanced dementia.
Methods: Semi structured interviews were conducted with nursing home
staff (n=21) and relatives (n=5) from seven nursing homes. Following
Strauss and Corbin’s (1990, 1998) Interpretivist Grounded Theory
methodology, data collection and analysis proceeded iteratively, and
theoretical sampling was used to develop the emergent theory.
Results: The Grounded Theory ‘making the most of time’ explains that most
connections occurred during personal care. Interdependent contextual and
individual factors facilitated staff to make the most of time. Effective leaders
were described to create a caring culture in which informal leaders
(experienced staff) acted as role models. Staff were then more likely to
understand, accept and tolerate dementia, know connections were part of
their role, get to know residents and express caring values. In the right physical environment, this then facilitated staff to make the most of time
during personal care. Increased training and education from specialised
dementia units and experiential knowledge from family engagement then
supplement such contexts.
Implications: Future research could empirically test the theory ‘making the
most of time’
Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:BRADFORD/oai:bradscholars.brad.ac.uk:10454/18670 |
Date | January 2018 |
Creators | Haunch, Kirsty J. |
Contributors | Downs, Murna G., Oyebode, Jan |
Publisher | University of Bradford, Faculty of Health Studies |
Source Sets | Bradford Scholars |
Language | English |
Detected Language | English |
Type | Thesis, doctoral, PhD |
Rights | <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/"><img alt="Creative Commons License" style="border-width:0" src="http://i.creativecommons.org/l/by-nc-nd/3.0/88x31.png" /></a><br />The University of Bradford theses are licenced under a <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/">Creative Commons Licence</a>. |
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